CHICAGO TRIB PICKS NEW FILM CRITIC

After a four-month nationwide search to replace ousted film critic Gene Siskel, the Chicago Tribune has named Dave Kehr as its new movie reviewer. Curiously, the Tribune found its choice a short three blocks from its home office--at the Chicago Reader, where Kehr has been film critic for 12 years.

The newspaper’s sister company, Tribune Entertainment, syndicates “At the Movies,” a weekly television program that for four years featured Siskel and Chicago Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert. Siskel lost his job as film critic at the Tribune shortly after it was learned that he and Ebert were taking their television act to rival Disney Domestic Television.

Ebert maintains that the Chicago Tribune is punishing Siskel for taking his television business to a rival company. Tribune editor James D. Squires said the decision to relieve Siskel of his film critic duties resulted from concerns about increased demands on Siskel’s extremely busy schedule.

Siskel, who was Tribune film critic for almost two decades, continues at the newspaper as syndicated film columnist. He is under contract to write a Sunday column about the film industry and a weekly roundup of short movie reviews being offered to other newspapers through the Tribune’s syndicate.

According to Squires, the newspaper received “literally hundreds of applications and interviewed dozens of people” before selecting Kehr, a member of the National Society of Film Critics who sits on the selection committee for the New York Film Festival.

“We didn’t want a beginner,” Squires said. “Replacing Siskel would put too much pressure on a rookie.”

Ebert and Siskel’s new show--called “Siskel & Ebert & the Movies”--will appear on KABC Channel 7 (in Los Angeles), which previously carried the two when they were with “At the Movies.” The new program premieres in mid-September in more than 130 markets nationwide, according to James Bennett at Disney Domestic Television.

Tribune Entertainment Co. has picked New York Post film critic Rex Reed and Showtime/The Movie Channel entertainment editor Bill Harris to fill the “At the Movies” void left by the departure of co-hosts Siskel and Ebert. Reed and Harris will be seen on Tribune-owned station KTLA Channel 5 (in Los Angeles) and in 97 other markets.

Outside their television show, Siskel and Ebert are intense rivals in the highly competitive Chicago newspaper market. And both regard that competition as the key to their success.

“There will be no slackening of the rivalry between Roger (Ebert) and me that’s been going on for the past 17 years,” said Siskel in his cramped, messy office off the newsroom at the Tribune. “I’m plotting articles already for Christmas that will make (Ebert) sick with envy.”